Vernacular architecture

Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs and circumstances. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it exists. (wiki)

Connected Sites

Site Rationale Link
Agadez vernacular mudbrick architecture (AB ev)
Ancient Ksour "The mosques .. are severe, without any form of decoration or flooring, and built entirely in local materials." (AB ev)
Arequipa dignified casonas, characteristic well-proportioned vernacular houses (AB ev)
As-Salt a mixture of vernacular regional and high-style architecture (AB ev)
Asante Traditional Buildings
Asmara vernacular styles from the highlands were adopted and assimilated by Italian architects, engineers and planners in the design of buildings and public space
Bahla Fort the fort and mud houses in the oasis
Bam Cultural Landscape the most representative example of a fortified medieval town built in vernacular technique using mud layers (AB ev)
Bassari Country traditional architecture (AB ev)
Battir The main manifestations of vernacular buildings within the property are the stone watchtowers, manatir. (AB ev)
Berat and Gjirokastra vernacular housing (AB ev)
Bryggen
Churches of Chiloé
Churches of the Pskov School of Architecture "The school utilized a limited set of decorative techniques and architectural elements, illustrating a synthesis of vernacular styles brought into urban and monumental contexts" (OUV)
Cidade Velha Rua da Banana
Cliff of Bandiagara
Costiera Amalfitana
Cultural Landscape of Kenozero Lake "vernacular wooden architecture" (AB ev)
Curonian Spit
Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland
Djenné
Fertö/Neusiedlersee "The remarkable rural architecture of the villages surrounding the lake "
Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda "The richly decorated church facades are of special interest as they represent an example of the joint creative efforts of the missionaries and the Indios. The rural settlements that grew around the missions have retained their vernacular character." (unesco website)
Fujian Tulou
Ghadames A remarkable domestic architectural style distinguishes Ghadames as a unique site among a series of pre-Saharan cities and settlements (AB ev)
Goias "vernacular techniques"
Granada The residential district of the Albaycín is a rich repository of Moorish vernacular architecture (AB ev)
Göreme NP and Cappadocia
Haghpat and Sanahin blending of elements of Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture and the traditional vernacular architecture of the Caucasian region (AB ev)
Hahoe and Yangdong
Hallstatt-Dachstein
Hani Rice Terraces The traditional vernacular buildings have walls built of rammed earth, of adobe bricks or of earth and stone under a tall, hipped, roof thatched with straw that gives the houses a distinctive 'mushroom' shape. (whc)
Harar Jugol traditional townhouses
Hawraman/Uramanat "The cultural landscape made up of villages of steep-slope vernacular architecture" (AB Ev – ICOMOS)
Historic Jeddah
Holasovice
Hollókö
Kaiping Diaolou original, single-storey, vernacular village houses (AB ev)
Kasbah of Algiers The Algiers Kasbah preserves very interesting traditional Arab-Mediterranean houses in which the ancestral Arab lifestyle and Moslim customs have blended with other architectural traditions. (AB Ev)
Konso
Koutammakou
Ksar of Aït Ben Haddou
Kuldiga "traditional local log architecture" (OUV)
Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces Chexbres
M'Zab Valley
Matera
Maymand cave dwellings carved out of the soft rock (kamar)
Mbanza Kongo : Some dwellings conserve the characteristic traits of the typical 19th-20th century Kongo house (Nzo). Built on rubble foundations, with earthen or brick walls (the brick may be sun-dried or fired); they are long houses with two main rooms under a pitched roof (originally covered with straw). Colonial elements were added (verandas, pillars), and later industrial elements (corrugated metal sheet) replaced the local materials. (AB ev)
Meteora
Mijikenda Kaya Forests
Mount Athos a treasury of vernacular architecture (UNEP-WCMC)
Mount Emei, including Leshan Giant Buddha its temples are built in Sichuan vernacular architecture
Mount Qingcheng and Dujiangyan its Taoist shrines and temples are built in Sichuan vernacular architecture
Ohrid Region The region's culture reflects outstanding religious architecture from the 7th to 19th centuries, urban structures and vernacular architecture from the 18th and 19th centuries, all in Ohrid, and a concentration of archaeological remains some within Ohrid and others along the coast. (AB Ev)
Old Rauma
Old Town of Lijiang
Petäjävesi Old Church
Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands Manarola and Corniglia
Quebrada de Humahuaca The valley also displays several churches and chapels and a vibrant vernacular architectural tradition. (Icomos
Quedlinburg "The importance of the town rests on three main elements: the preservation of the medieval street pattern, the wealth of urban vernacular buildings, especially timber-framed houses of the 16th and 17th centuries, and the important Romanesque collegiate church of St Servatius." (AB Ev)
Rabat Vernacular architecture also provides a set of interesting elements, some of which have been inventorised, such as doors and their accessories. (AB ev)
SGang Gwaay large cedar long houses, together with a number of carved mortuary and memorial poles, illustrate the art and way of life of the Haida (AB ev)
San Gimignano
Sana'a
Schokland
Shahr-i Sokhta mud brick architecture (AB ev)
Shibam
Shirakawa-go and Gokayama
Southern Öland
Stone Town of Zanzibar "The Omani Arabics used coral for masonry, ..., and to make lime mortar through a process of heating coral to high temperatures until it becomes lime powder. Indians and Europeans introduced architectural forms to contend with the tropical climate, including rooftop terraces and sloped, corrugated metal roofs which perform better during the dual-monsoon seasons than the Arabic flat roofs"
Sudanese style mosques
Taos Pueblo
The Prosecco Hills "The rural cottage (...) is more commonly found in the core zone. It does not reflect established formal canons but is often a sum of various parts developed over time mirroring the fortunes of the owner family. (...) In terms of materials, local stone, due to its extreme variability, is the most distinctive identifying feature of these buildings. Clustered settlements and isolated houses are an important part of the local landscape: having been abandoned and underutilized, they are wholly preserved, and are still today used to fulfill agricultural functions, or are often converted into cellars." (Nomination file, p. 46)
The Royal Court of Tiébélé
The trulli of Alberobello
Timbuktu
Tomb of Askia
Tombs of Buganda Kings
Tusi Sites "The incorporation of local ethnic decorative patterns and motifs into the paving of streets and roads at Laosicheng, in the Tusi’s frieze on the memorial gateway at Tangya and in the fortified Feilong gateway at Hailongtun are specific examples of the influence of the local minorities on decorative treatment" (AB ev)
Upper Svaneti
Urnes Stave Church
Valparaiso "the city is characterized by a vernacular urban fabric" (unesco website)
Verla Groundwood and Board Mill The workers houses are in the traditional vernacular idiom(AB ev)
Vigan the houses follow the typical plan of the tradional Bahay Kubo, with the second floor being the only living space. Most of the houses employ wood as one of the major materials in the construction. Ventanillas (lower sliding ventilators) only happen to manifest in the Philippines being a unique house feature.
Villages with Fortified Churches
Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont
Viñales Valley "Most of the buildings scattered over the plain are simple; they are built using local and natural materials, and are used as homes or family farms."
Vlkolinec
Wachau Cultural Landscape The entire Wachau with its historic and vernacular buildings, with the picturesquely interrupted hill ranges on either side, with the river in its midst, is a big and lively Gesamtkunstwerk (nom file)
Wooden Churches of Maramures
Wooden Churches of Southern Malopolska
Wooden Churches of the Slovak Carpathians
Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region
Xidi and Hongcun
Zabid
Zagori Cultural Landscape "its vernacular architecture of traditional stone building" (AB ev)

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